Travel bucket lists: oh, the places you can go

B and I get asked ‘where are you going next?’ quite often. Like we’ve mentioned before, we pretty much always have our next few adventures mapped out. But that is only for the near future and places that make sense for us to go next. There are so many amazing-sounding places in this great big ol’ world of ours. So we thought it would be fun to mention a few places on our travel bucket list that we are dying to visit. Hopefully, we’ll be able to cross all of these off soon!

The Azores

The Azores are a group of nine islands about 1,000 miles west of Portugal. They are volcanic but covered with enough green to allow lots of agriculture, livestock and ranching. This little gem looks amazing and–bonus–it never gets too hot. This is a big deal. A beautiful green island that doesn’t get sweltering? Very hard to find. The Azores are growing in popularity, particularly on the East Coast. There is currently a direct flight out of Boston that can be found at very reasonable prices. I’m pretty sure if we lived in the northeast, we’d find ourselves in the Azores a few times a year.  

Update: we crossed this travel bucket list item in 2017!

Slovenia

I think the Alps are pretty much the most amazing mountain range I’ve ever seen (maybe not my favorite–that nod goes to Idaho’s own Sawtooths). If you’ve been lucky enough to travel on the Eurail through Europe, you’ll have seen the stately Alps in many different countries. One country where I haven’t yet beheld these awesome mountains is Slovenia. The Julian Alps, as they are known here, are made of limestone and the highest peak is Mt. Triglav at 9,000 feet. Maybe it isn’t that high, but if you look through Google images you’ll see why this country is on this list. Crazy craggy peaks contrasted with emerald green valleys with little stone buildings every now and then. It looks like a fairy tale.

Spain

Spain is probably the most ‘normal’ country on this bucket list. It seems strange that I haven’t been here. Although B has spent some time in Spain, for me I think it might be like the boy next door–it’s all you have been looking for, but just not sexy enough to keep you from looking somewhere else. I’ll let you know if this theory holds up, because we are going to buckle down and go to Spain soon, hopefully in the next year or two. I took Spanish at college from a young man (think ‘Hot for Teacher’ playing in my head everyday as I walked into class) who learned Spanish in Spain. I’m very excited to hear a whole country of people doing the lisp-y thing when speaking Spanish.

River Cruise

I watch a lot of PBS (as well should you, dear reader) and one of their major sponsors is Viking River Cruise. I haven’t ever been on a cruise, but I really feel like a river cruise would be cool. Routes go through the Rhine and Danube Rivers amongst others and they just sound amazing. The boats are little so they only hold about 200 passengers, as opposed to the huge floating cities that are other cruise ships. The food is supposed to be great and there are tons of windows on the boats so you can keep your eye on the scenery at all times. I believe the crowd that frequents river cruises are a bit, ahem, older. But I would totally be cool with this. Maybe it is because river cruises are super cheap, older folks can just pay more.  

Romania

If anyone has read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, they should want to visit Romania. It is, afterall, the country where Transylvania is located. Yes, Transylvania is an actual place. It is a place of magic and wonder–I picture the Bran Castle perched in the Carpathian Mountains. (Don’t those things just sound magical?!) I’ve heard that Hollywood has taken to filming movies in Romania and Bulgaria to cut costs, so I’d really like to visit here before it gets too mainstream.

Cambodia

I think I’ve mentioned how much I want to see Angkor Wat in other posts. But man do I really want to see this place. In Indonesia we were able to go to some really incredible temples and I imagine this complex would be much like that. It doesn’t matter what religion you subscribe to, there is just something powerful about seeing structures like this and knowing how much time and dedication it took to create them. I find it really inspiring and a testament to the amazing things people can do.

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are a group of 18 rocky islands in between Norway and Iceland, but they are an autonomous country within Denmark. B first heard of these gems from a blog she reads and they sounded cool enough that now I really want to go to them to. One of B’s reasons for why they deserve a spot on this list is that they are off the beaten path and kind of sound like Iceland, only without all the tourists. If anything sells these islands, it would be that they are akin to the land of fire and ice.  

Egypt: Pyramids

That’s really all that needs to be said for why it would be amazing to see Egypt. I mean, come on–4,000 years ago people built huge stone structures and they are still standing. That is mind-blowing. There is, sadly, some crazy unrest going on in Egypt, so I probably won’t be hopping of a flight any time soon. But if they can stand tall for a few millenia, I think they can make it another few years until I can get there.  

South Africa

one of my favorite autobiographies is “A Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela. Much has changed since this incredible man was released from prison, but I would still be very interested to see the things and places he described in his book. Not to mention the lions, elephants, giraffes and pretty much every other cool animal they keep in zoos are indigenous to this place. This is one you have to mentally prepare for, though. The flights from the U.S. are looooooong.

Patagonia

No, not the maker of excellent outdoor apparel. But instead the region in the bottom tip of South America where the Andes are split by Argentina and Chile. Here are the words The Goog uses to describe Patagonia: steppes, grasslands, deserts, glacial fjords and temperate rainforests. How can all those various words describe one area? It must be pretty incredible.

Conclusion

This list could really go on and on. I think we all hold certain places in our hearts that for some reason or another are full of allure. The great thing about living right now is that we can actually go to these places–they don’t have to just be dreams. Hopefully, this list and yours can be more of a To Do List that we can cross off after we visit and add to when we hear about something new.